fatboycrash
Husqvarna
AA Class
Gudday,
Back in 2009 I had a 610. Loved it. But the ex loved the lawyers more. :-) Finally back on my feet I went looking for another. Here's some pics of the one I found and the last 6 months.
The bike when I first bought it at the end of last year. The irony is that the poor bloke had to sell it because his marriage had failed....
I wanted to give it a thorough 'going through'. It had 20,000 kilometers on it and the guy I bought it from wasn't a mechanical giant, if you get my drift... :-)
The almost finished (are bikes like this ever finished? I'm a serial tinkerer...) effort
And with the big tank.
Here's what I learnt, And I think it's worth passing on just as a FYI for owners of 610's.
At 20,000 klm's (about 12000 miles for you poor bastards still stuck with that crazy system) The cam chain was totally stuffed. Top end was NOISY!. So slack that it was flapping against the reed valve in the lower cases and had damaged it. In direct contrast, the piston and bore looked like it had just left the factory. I do not exaggerate. I thought that whilst I had the bike apart I might as well do a top end refresh. Big single working hard, 20k... Sounds about right?? It might be with certain lesser bikes. The piston outer/skirt etc had NO discernable wear marks whatsoever. Considering that the piston is 300 bucks plus I could've left it alone for another 20k. But I had sucked it in and made a big order from Halls and had bought a new one, so I replaced it.
The valves and head were fine. I replaced the valve stem seals anyway, because they came with the gasket kit. The Athena top end gasket kit was really good quality and I would not hesitate to reccomend it. I gave the valves a gentle lap. They didn't need it but I live with a 20 year motorcycle mechanic and he said "do it anyway and you know thay are right". The surprising thing was the head had some really ugly casting dags etc and 15 minutes at the factory would've cleaned the tracts up. Oh well, an ode to mass production.
New camchain is a must. Done. Use three bond or whatever your prefered goop is AS WELL as a new gasket for the water pump. Guess how I know?? :-)
The clutch. Yup, those cup washers were paper thin, ready to fail. In fact one of them was missing bits. Got some of those hardened ones from the bloke on ADV rider. Top bloke. Discovered that the rivets in the clutch basket can be cold worked if you use a ball peen hammer CAREFULLY.
Gave the stock catalytic converter exhaust to a bloke I know. For 200 bucks it's been gutted and a 'sensible' repackable core has been installed. Add a JD jet kit (I refuse to own a FI dirt bike. Notice how much drama the fellas in the Dakar had??) It looks like stock, not much louder but def. helps release some of those ponies lurking inside.
Added some 7602 radiator braces and guards. Pivot Pegz. Chain case protector thingy. 7602 fuel hose vent thingy. Ever flooded a bike while creek crossing? Save a whole lot of pain. Some new graphics, a new rear mud guard with led brake light. New consumeables, i.e. wheel bearings/chain/sprocket/brake pads. New oil and filters. Coupla personal touches.
Still trying to get the GPR steering damper to fit. It's not GPR's fault but the tolerance thing with Huskies frame and safari tank. I just need to raise the bar mounts 5mm with some washers but It's Sunday and I dunno if I can be arsed today.. :-) I have a longer braided steel teflon brake line to fit as well as the stock is a little short now with my bar combo and hits the instruments on full extension. See above Sunday clause. :-)
Safari tanks have REALLY lifted there game with quality. The tank is a beauty. They don't advertise it but the 610/630 tank can be ordered with a modification that allows you to put it on a carb. bike. Not that the quality at Safari was bad to start with, but I've owned Clarke, IMS and earlier Safari tanks. They are a world class product. I got lucky and scored a "factory second" It was a bit cheaper. Unless I showed you waht made it a "second" you would not know. Ever. It's some tiny discolouration flecks in the plastic on the right side. It's a dirt bike for fruits sake! Ir's meant to be dirty.
Things still to do.
The airbox. This is the achilles heel of this bike. What a bastard of a thing. On my last 610 I gave up and cut the guts out of it and installed a foam "pod" like the supermono guys do. There has to be something. It doesn't seal to my liking and the fasteners seize up if not paid due attention. Mine had seized. See the above machanical giant excuse.
There are NO more carb 610 airboxes left. ZIP. Zero. They have all been sold.
I have a 630 airbox. An improved design but has a cover that is incompatible with the 610 plastic sidecovers. I'd love to have a good hard look at a 630 and see if the plastics would fit the 610. The 630 is a great looking bike but has the downsides of shim and bucket valve adjustment and FI. I do ALL my own servicing. I've been bitten too many times by the backwards hat wearing tunnell plugs in ear brigade that must breed in the dark recesses of dirt bike workshops... :-)
Any one care to take some detailed shots of their 630 for me?? :-) :-)
Fit the UBER HDD michelin tubes. When I fit some new MOTOZ tyres....
I set a dirt bike up for (a pumpkin 625) for my 68 year old Dad a few years ago with a Rekluse and left hand rear brake. He has fused ankles (arthritis) and finds using the rear brake and gears difficult when the going gets tough, like hill climbs etc. I didn't think much about it until I rode the thing. WOW****************************************!! It's amazing. So I MIGHT go down that route. Maybe. Bike doesn't need it. But I AINT GUNNA sell this one!!!. Also, anyone used the newish Trail Tech GPS instrument? The "Voyager" Any good? My stock one gets all erratic over about 80klm's an hour.
Comments? TLDR?? :-)
Back in 2009 I had a 610. Loved it. But the ex loved the lawyers more. :-) Finally back on my feet I went looking for another. Here's some pics of the one I found and the last 6 months.
The bike when I first bought it at the end of last year. The irony is that the poor bloke had to sell it because his marriage had failed....
I wanted to give it a thorough 'going through'. It had 20,000 kilometers on it and the guy I bought it from wasn't a mechanical giant, if you get my drift... :-)
The almost finished (are bikes like this ever finished? I'm a serial tinkerer...) effort
And with the big tank.
Here's what I learnt, And I think it's worth passing on just as a FYI for owners of 610's.
At 20,000 klm's (about 12000 miles for you poor bastards still stuck with that crazy system) The cam chain was totally stuffed. Top end was NOISY!. So slack that it was flapping against the reed valve in the lower cases and had damaged it. In direct contrast, the piston and bore looked like it had just left the factory. I do not exaggerate. I thought that whilst I had the bike apart I might as well do a top end refresh. Big single working hard, 20k... Sounds about right?? It might be with certain lesser bikes. The piston outer/skirt etc had NO discernable wear marks whatsoever. Considering that the piston is 300 bucks plus I could've left it alone for another 20k. But I had sucked it in and made a big order from Halls and had bought a new one, so I replaced it.
The valves and head were fine. I replaced the valve stem seals anyway, because they came with the gasket kit. The Athena top end gasket kit was really good quality and I would not hesitate to reccomend it. I gave the valves a gentle lap. They didn't need it but I live with a 20 year motorcycle mechanic and he said "do it anyway and you know thay are right". The surprising thing was the head had some really ugly casting dags etc and 15 minutes at the factory would've cleaned the tracts up. Oh well, an ode to mass production.
New camchain is a must. Done. Use three bond or whatever your prefered goop is AS WELL as a new gasket for the water pump. Guess how I know?? :-)
The clutch. Yup, those cup washers were paper thin, ready to fail. In fact one of them was missing bits. Got some of those hardened ones from the bloke on ADV rider. Top bloke. Discovered that the rivets in the clutch basket can be cold worked if you use a ball peen hammer CAREFULLY.
Gave the stock catalytic converter exhaust to a bloke I know. For 200 bucks it's been gutted and a 'sensible' repackable core has been installed. Add a JD jet kit (I refuse to own a FI dirt bike. Notice how much drama the fellas in the Dakar had??) It looks like stock, not much louder but def. helps release some of those ponies lurking inside.
Added some 7602 radiator braces and guards. Pivot Pegz. Chain case protector thingy. 7602 fuel hose vent thingy. Ever flooded a bike while creek crossing? Save a whole lot of pain. Some new graphics, a new rear mud guard with led brake light. New consumeables, i.e. wheel bearings/chain/sprocket/brake pads. New oil and filters. Coupla personal touches.
Still trying to get the GPR steering damper to fit. It's not GPR's fault but the tolerance thing with Huskies frame and safari tank. I just need to raise the bar mounts 5mm with some washers but It's Sunday and I dunno if I can be arsed today.. :-) I have a longer braided steel teflon brake line to fit as well as the stock is a little short now with my bar combo and hits the instruments on full extension. See above Sunday clause. :-)
Safari tanks have REALLY lifted there game with quality. The tank is a beauty. They don't advertise it but the 610/630 tank can be ordered with a modification that allows you to put it on a carb. bike. Not that the quality at Safari was bad to start with, but I've owned Clarke, IMS and earlier Safari tanks. They are a world class product. I got lucky and scored a "factory second" It was a bit cheaper. Unless I showed you waht made it a "second" you would not know. Ever. It's some tiny discolouration flecks in the plastic on the right side. It's a dirt bike for fruits sake! Ir's meant to be dirty.
Things still to do.
The airbox. This is the achilles heel of this bike. What a bastard of a thing. On my last 610 I gave up and cut the guts out of it and installed a foam "pod" like the supermono guys do. There has to be something. It doesn't seal to my liking and the fasteners seize up if not paid due attention. Mine had seized. See the above machanical giant excuse.
There are NO more carb 610 airboxes left. ZIP. Zero. They have all been sold.
I have a 630 airbox. An improved design but has a cover that is incompatible with the 610 plastic sidecovers. I'd love to have a good hard look at a 630 and see if the plastics would fit the 610. The 630 is a great looking bike but has the downsides of shim and bucket valve adjustment and FI. I do ALL my own servicing. I've been bitten too many times by the backwards hat wearing tunnell plugs in ear brigade that must breed in the dark recesses of dirt bike workshops... :-)
Any one care to take some detailed shots of their 630 for me?? :-) :-)
Fit the UBER HDD michelin tubes. When I fit some new MOTOZ tyres....
I set a dirt bike up for (a pumpkin 625) for my 68 year old Dad a few years ago with a Rekluse and left hand rear brake. He has fused ankles (arthritis) and finds using the rear brake and gears difficult when the going gets tough, like hill climbs etc. I didn't think much about it until I rode the thing. WOW****************************************!! It's amazing. So I MIGHT go down that route. Maybe. Bike doesn't need it. But I AINT GUNNA sell this one!!!. Also, anyone used the newish Trail Tech GPS instrument? The "Voyager" Any good? My stock one gets all erratic over about 80klm's an hour.
Comments? TLDR?? :-)
